About 5 million above-ground swimming pools have been recalled over potential drowning risk after nine children died in the last two decades.
The recalled products include 48-inch and taller above-ground pools sold since 2007 by the brands Bestway, Coleman, Intex and Polygroup, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Between 2007 and 2022, nine children died from drowning after they were able to access the pool using a compression strap that wrapped around the pool as a foothold.
The straps, which wrapped around the pool outside the supporting poles, created a foothold to allow small children to climb into the pool – even when the ladder was removed, the agency said.
The nine children who died as a result were between 22 months and three years old, according to the commission.
The deaths took place in California, Texas, Florida and Wisconsin.
The recalled pools were sold in stores such as Walmart, Target, Sears, Lowe’s and Toys “R” Us, as well as online on Amazon. The prices range from $400 to over $1,000. An additional 200,000 pools have also been recalled in Canada.
The agency stated that it was aware of three other incidents in 2011 and 2012 in which children gained entry to the pools by using the compression strap.
Anyone with a recalled pool can contact Bestway, Intex and Polygroup to receive a free repair kit, which includes a rope to attach to each of the pool’s support poles at the ground level. The rope then wraps around the pool and functions similarly to the compression strap, ensuring small children cannot access the pool unsupervised.
After securing the rope, customers should cut and remove the original compression strap from the pool, the commission said.
